Northern Michigan Adventure and 10K RR

For the second time in July, I was getting four days off of work to head up to northern Michigan. This is an annual family trip, always at the end of July. Grayling host a whole week of events leading up to the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon; carnival, craft show, book sale, car show, the Big Bear 100 bike race and a 10K.

We arrived on Wednesday night and I found out that my niece from Milwaukee would be running on Thursday morning. She is a cross-country runner and is getting ready for the season. Her mom and dad said it would be fine to go run a trail in the morning, so we lined one up for the morning.

Thursday

I picked out a trail at Harwick Pines State Park that was 7.5 miles. Didn't quite work out to be that distance for us. We were there by 8am and grabbed a map of the trails just in case (good move as it truned out). This trail is a loop around most of the park and is in the shape of a rectangle. We take off going right and made another right onto a trail road. We keep going in that direction and the rights that we make end up looping us back to the trail and road that we had already run. Not good. We look at the map and see that the trail is supposed to cross this road. We keep going and on the second pass we see a little white arrow that leads us off the road and through a gap in the fence. Feeling good, we take that trail and it stops at Hwy-93. Opps again! That was not supposed to happen. We back track through this hilly section and a nice DNR lady tells us that we were on the right trail and that we must have missed our turn. I had serious doubts about her instructions. I couldn't have missed another turn! Well.......yes I did. There on the side of the trail, right after coming down a hill was a five foot post with an arrow pointing to the left. We weren't talking enough to miss two turns but we had. The rest of the run was on course. Miles 5 and 6 were especially hilly, but it was a nice trail and a good run. My niece set a distance PR @ 9.28 miles. So much for 7.5. She did well and I am sure all the hills will only help her. The rest of the day was kayaking, outdoor games and eating.

Friday

I was on my own for this run. Awoke at 6am, grabbed food, clothes, drink, camera and was on the road by 6:15. Drove about a half an hour to Vanderbult, Mi where I planned a trail run in the Pigeon River State forest. The Shingle Mill Pathway is just a section of the North Country Trail, which I had walked before. My plan was to hit all twelve markers which would give me about 12 miles. Like my trail marathon a few weeks ago, this was hilly, technical and skinny. Perfect training. Took it easy, ate my food when I wanted, drank at regular intervals and took pics along the way. When I came to my truck, I kept going another mile or so on a different trail then came back. 14.23 miles. Arrived back at camp to find everyone else eating and still getting dressed. Slackers! Here are some of the pics I took along the run.

Saturday

The day of the 10K after running 23.5 miles of trails. I honestly laid in bed for a time and thought about not running. I wasn't registered but no one ever is at this race. 90% of the people register the morning of the race. I never did officially register (don't get mad, I'll explain). My BIL and niece were registered but my BIL pulled a hamstring playing kickball (I will avoid this game after seeing runners get injured while playing). He told me to just take his spot but I wanted to do the right thing and talk to the RD. I could have guessed the answer. Very laid back. BIL and I are the same age group so RD told me to just take the bib. He asked if I wanted to change the name on the roster and I told him that I wouldn't be anywhere near the front so I didn't care. I was "Dave Sims" for the race!

The niece and I take off together. First mile @ 7:20 and she is feeling good (high school sophmore BTW). The course is very gentle hills. The weather was high 50s and cloudy. Both perfect. Second mile @ 7:33. My niece's breathing is finally noticable while I sound like a steam engine. I hadn't run this fast in a while. Mile 3 is part way down a dirt road that was soft. We hit the turn-around and mile marker with a 7:38 mile and my niece started to fall back just a bit. We had no plans to run together but it was nice having her along for the first half. Mile 4 comes in @ 7:33 and I realize that I still feel pretty good. Why aren't my legs dead? I think they are enjoying this day of stretching out. The trail running has made them strong not tired. Mile 5 is the only "hilly" part of the course and I pass the maker @ 7:36. "Ok legs, one mile to go," I tell myself. Two runners in front of me that look around my age and neither one of them look real strong at this point. Slip by them both as mile 6 comes in @ 7:25. I could feel my legs still had some kick left so I gave it a good strong finish and ended @ 46:33. My niece came in @ 47:58. We stuck around for awards because we knew she would get something, being the fourth overall female. Turns out, that so did "Dave Sims. " I was 25th out of 111 (niece was 28th). Second in AG (the two I passed were both in my division.....cool!). niece was 3rd in AG. Someone ask if this was a PR. In 2005 I ran this 10K in 41:37 and didn't even place. Funny how races go. Here are a few pics that my SIL took. This is my niece Emma.

After a good morning of racing, the rest of the day flew by. Our annual whiffle-ball game took place (yep.....you read that right). Ages from 12-74 and enough people to make two 9-man teams. We go to a little diamond and play for an hour or so. Great times every year. I think I spent the rest of the day eating. Here are some pics of the family enjoying kayaking and the ball game.

Sunday

No running. Headed back home and very satisfied. I am usually a bad vacation runner, but this time it was three good runs in four days, with hardware to boot!

Now it is 2 more weeks of good training before I start another mini-taper for my second trail marathon in 3 weeks. That 10K has me pumped-up about my training again. Have a great week everyone!

PS....Last night I was back for bleachers. One mile warmup, 16 full sets of bleachers (8 miles) and a mile cooldown. My goal was to hit 20 laps so I should be able to do this next week, then no more before the race.

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